Washington wants to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein without bloodshed or billions of dollars of a new Gulf war, an Iranian newspaper said on Thursday.
But the German foreign ministry rejected Entekhab report that Germany's Foreign Minister told his Iranian peer in their telephone conversation that the Bush administration sought a bloodless coup with the help of Russian President, Vladimir Putin.
"...it's been heard that Joschka Fischer, German Foreign Minister, has told Kamal Kharrazi in a phone conversation that America is set to overthrow Saddam Hussein without a war, bloodshed and heavy military expenditure," Entekhab reported.
The German foreign ministry confirmed the two ministers spoke by phone, but denied that Fischer had told Kharrazi that the U.S. was trying to topple the Iraqi leader without going to war.
"This content of the conversation is completely made up," the foreign ministry spokeswoman said in Berlin.
The Iranian newspaper said Washington had apparently harmonized its policy with Russia. It underlined recent remarks by former Russian prime minister Yevgeni Primakov about the possibility that Putin might visit Baghdad personally in order to persuade Saddam to relinquish power and depart for Moscow.
Entekhab said the U.S. plan involved a compromise regime in a post-Saddam Iraq, including a limited role for the current ruling party. "According to existing reports Iraq will be ruled in the future through a federal state and the Ba'ath party will not be totally removed from power," it said.
It added: "The composition of the future government in Baghdad will be influenced by the decisions made in the London meeting of Iraqi opposition last month." (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
